Genesis 33:14

Summary

Jacob asks Esau to go ahead of him on the road, while Jacob states that he himself will travel more slowly, adjusting his pace to the livestock and children under his care, until he reaches Esau at Seir.

Key words

• ya'avor ("let him pass on", H5674A) — qal imperfect third-person form functioning as a jussive/polite request, expressing a wish for Esau's action rather than a plain future statement.
• na' ("please", H4994) — interjection of entreaty attached to the verb, marking the sentence as a polite request rather than a command.
• 'etnahalah ("I will journey on", H5095) — hithpael form (reflexive/self-involved stem) of the root meaning "to lead/proceed," indicating Jacob's self-directed, gradual manner of travel, distinct from a simple qal movement verb.
• le'itti ("to my gentleness/slowness", H0328B) — noun in construct with the first-person suffix, giving the adverbial sense "at my own slow pace."
• lada'at regel pattern: regel ("foot of", H7272) appears twice in construct — "at the foot/pace of the melakhah" and "at the foot/pace of the children" — a Hebrew idiom using "foot" to express "pace set by."

What the text says

The verse opens with a polite imperative construction: ya'avor-na' ("let him pass on, please"), addressed to "my lord" ('adoni, H0113) — Esau — asking him to go lifnei 'avdo ("before his servant"), i.e., ahead of Jacob, who calls himself "servant" in the same breath, reinforcing the deferential tone.

The second half pivots with va'ani ("and I"), placing the pronoun emphatically before the verb 'etnahalah, a hithpael form. This stem, together with le'itti ("to my slowness"), builds a picture of self-paced, unhurried movement — Jacob will proceed according to his own gentle rhythm. The repeated idiom le-regel X ("at the foot of X," i.e., at the pace set by X) ties this pace to two things: hammela'khah ("the property/work," H4399) that is lefanai ("before me") and hayeladim ("the children," H3206). The clause is governed by 'ad 'asher ("until"), introducing the endpoint: Jacob's arrival 'el-'adoni ("to my lord") at Se'irah — Seir with the directional -ah suffix (H9011), marking motion "toward" that place.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders hammela'khah ("the property/work," H4399) as τῆς πορεύσεως ("of the journey/procession"), a different semantic focus than the Hebrew's reference to property or goods, and translates 'etnahalah le'itti with ἐνισχύσω ... κατὰ σχολὴν ("I will strengthen myself ... at leisure"), diverging from the Hebrew's hithpael "self-directed proceeding at gentleness." The Vulgate's sicut videro parvulos meos posse ("as I shall see my little ones able") introduces a visual-judgment nuance not explicit in the Hebrew construct phrases le-regel.